Bassists using your equipment at gigs

[UntitledProject]

What is a good bulletproof combo amp that I could bring to gigs where I might want to share? Fender Rumble? Peavey TNT?

I was always a fan of the ampeg BA series for ruggedness and decent tone.

 

[D Bopp]

I am more than willing to let people use my gear as long as they are willing to pay my usage fees.

Usage fees? You may be technically in the right to ask for that, but that just sounds sleazy.

What kind of gigs do you guys play where every bass player in the other bands sounds like some deadbeat smack addict that rolled out of bed to get to the gig?

I've dealt with a few losers like that before, but most guys around my neck of the woods are pretty respectable to other's gear.

 

[CrashCarlisle]

I think bass players are by far the smartest, most talented, and best looking members of the band.....totally trust-worthy!

 

[Jeff Bonny]

Sometimes it just makes logistical sense to share an amp. I've been both the borrower and the borrowee without anyone's gear ever going south. I mean why would you bring such a delicate amp to a bar gig that it couldn't stand another player using it? We're talking an 800RB on an SWR 4x10 not a vintage mint SVT.
Being prissy about a bar rig is kinda limp.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I was always a fan of the ampeg BA series for ruggedness and decent tone.

In my experience the BA series fails miserably. I had to eventually scream at management and demand my money back since it had spent 2 of the 8 months I owned it in the shop. I owned a BA 210 300w combo.

Good tone, and it did take some abuse, but it just one day started sounding blown, took the speakers in to have them checked, no problems, took the amp in, were I was told it was repaired 3 times, every time I took it home to jam the issue was there is seconds.

I'd get something else...

I never owned a TNT but I did have a TKO 115 for a while back in the day, it weighed a freakin ton and I hated moving it, but it took some beatings... I put it through a glass window in my buddy's basement once while loading it in for a practice... if you want something to beat and share, it is cheaper to boot.

 

[UntitledProject]

In my experience the BA series fails miserably. I had to eventually scream at management and demand my money back since it had spent 2 of the 8 months I owned it in the shop. I owned a BA 210 300w combo.

Good tone, and it did take some abuse, but it just one day started sounding blown, took the speakers in to have them checked, no problems, took the amp in, were I was told it was repaired 3 times, every time I took it home to jam the issue was there is seconds.

I'd get something else...

I never owned a TNT but I did have a TKO 115 for a while back in the day, it weighed a freakin ton and I hated moving it, but it took some beatings... I put it through a glass window in my buddy's basement once while loading it in for a practice... if you want something to beat and share, it is cheaper to boot.

I've had different experience with their 1x15 combos, but my good experience in no way erases your bad experience. Sorry you had issues with yours, and I'm very very sorry you had so many issues with the repair situation. That is unacceptable. If they couldn't fix it they should have owned up to that fact and just said so. That is unacceptable.

 

[GeneralElectric]

I think you might be a little sensitive to hearing other opinions with that pre-emptive 'don't get sensitive' strike against anyone who might disagree...

Personally I don't much appreciate a band that thinks tone is an afterthought and thinks whatever comes out of the amp is good enough. A band that takes the time to craft a sound that complements the song really stands out in my opinion. Putting together a nice sound palette is as important to me as a painter using colors that work together and set the right mood. There is more to music than hitting the right notes with a little rhythm.

I realize a lot of people really don't notice and not caring about tone will not really offend the average listener, but it's the critical listeners that will decide how far you go in music. Not the guys who just follow the party around and remember you as 'the band.'

You don't need an amp to get tone but I wouldn't bank on the idea that nobody cares about it, especially when it comes to guitar. Just an observation from the crowd.

The guys who disagree are the ones who like to carry around heavy equipment.

Generally, at least when I play, I go for "my sound" which I can dial in on pretty much any amp I plug into. Some do it better than others but, as you yourself said, 99% of people won't care what carefully crafted tone you've concocted. I find that the only people who care about a bass player's tone are other bass players.

Besides, I prefer the "naturalish" tone of my instruments. The amp only serves, to me at least, to help the character of my instrument fit both the room and the band I'm playing with. Less than 2 minutes with the sound guy and I've got the same thing accomplished. I recently saw the Broadway play of Once and the entire cast played instruments and sang. Not only did every player sound great, none of them had an amp!

Most gigs that are larger than a bar require everyone to plug into the PA system. The amps are only there for monitors. If you crank up so the audience can hear your great stage tone the FOH mix sounds awful. If everyone cranks up so the audience can hear your great amps then you go deaf and your FOH still sounds like crap.

Also, to give you a another recent real life example:
I played third guitar this year with my seasonal Irish band. We play punk as well as softer stands, countryish songs, and folk. The band has about a dozen people on stage at any given time due to all the instruments and singers.
I had just switched over from mandolin because my acoustic mandolin was feeding back all the time. I used a regular 1960s Gibson SG with P90s and flatwound strings. While I own a nice guitar amp but let one of our actual guitar players use it for the shows since he only owned a Fender champ and couldn't get loud enough.
I plugged into the PA, fiddled with my channel's EQ for a little bit to get a good sound and played the set.
After the show a bunch of local guitar snobs, who I'm also friends with, came over to congratulate me on the show. They all thought my tone was the best out of everyone and how they could hear my guitar the most clearly (note he didn't say I was the loudest, because I wasn't.) This happened for most of the shows we played this year with different people coming up to me to ask what sort of amp I was using.

Also, FWIW, I sometimes bring a small pedalboard with me. For bass its usually a tuner, volume pedal, barber linden EQ, my DI, distortion, chorus, suboctaver. For guitar I use pretty much the same except I use guitar-specific pedals and use a tremadillo instead of the suboctaver. I didn't bring the pedal board to any of those shows either.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

I suggest to NOT take your good rig to jams. My Berg is now down w/a blown tweeter by a kid at a jam night and we/he wern't/wasn't playing real loud but I'm left with the bill. I have had guys blow gear at literaly dozens of gigs over the last 46 yrs. In total ONE actually admitted he f***ed it up and gave me some money for repair.
MY advice is if you plan to loan your gear to anyone loan em' yer back up rig. thank me later. I have replaced hundreds of dollars worth of gear on my own dime.
OR better yet get thier credit card to hold till the gig is over. (I have done this)

GOOD LUCK

peace Kirk